U.S. patent number 5,056,204 [Application Number 07/524,840] was granted by the patent office on 1991-10-15 for method of producing hearing aids.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Ascom Audiosys AG. Invention is credited to Anton Bartschi.
United States Patent |
5,056,204 |
Bartschi |
October 15, 1991 |
Method of producing hearing aids
Abstract
For hearing aids to be worn in the ear initially the
measurements of the inner space of the ear are determined by a
laser apparatus and the measurement are stored in a computer. The
computer controls a milling cutter on which a blank consisting of
plastic material into which all necessary components, such as
electronic amplifier and sound transducer have been molded is
shaped by means of a milling operation to provide a shape
corresponding precisely to the inner space of the ear. The method
eliminates the time consuming work for the production of a mold and
the purchaser can obtain immediately a precisely fitting hearing
aid.
Inventors: |
Bartschi; Anton (Antoni,
CH) |
Assignee: |
Ascom Audiosys AG (Flamatt,
CH)
|
Family
ID: |
4219548 |
Appl.
No.: |
07/524,840 |
Filed: |
May 17, 1990 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 1989 [CH] |
|
|
01828/89 |
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
29/896.21;
700/163; 29/557; 264/40.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04R
25/658 (20130101); B23Q 33/00 (20130101); H04R
25/652 (20130101); H04R 2225/77 (20130101); Y10T
29/49572 (20150115); Y10T 29/49995 (20150115) |
Current International
Class: |
B23Q
33/00 (20060101); H04R 25/00 (20060101); H04R
025/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;29/109.5,557,848
;264/40.1,219,222 ;434/270 ;381/68,68.6,69,69.2 ;409/80,84,96
;370/348 ;356/347,359.1 ;364/474.05,474.37 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Echols; P. W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Nies, Kurz, Bergert &
Tamburro
Claims
I claim:
1. A method of producing a hearing aid which is worn in the ear and
includes an amplifier and a sound transducer built into a body
member which is made to conform to the inner space of a respective
ear, comprising the steps of initially taking measurements of the
inner space of the ear up to the eardrum for use in producing an
individual shape of the body member corresponding with the
measurements of the inner space of the ear, storing the
measurements in an electronic memory, providing a body member blank
of plastic material and having an electronic amplifier and a sound
transducer molded therewithin, and controlling a cutting operation
of a cutting machine based upon the stored measurements to cut an
outer surface of the body member blank to provide a desired shaped
individual body member having an outer surface shape that
corresponds with the ear inner space measurements.
2. The method of claim 1, in which the measurements of the inner
space of the ear are taken by means of a laser apparatus.
3. The method of claim 1, in which the body member blank is
substantially cylindrical and includes a microphone, an earphone, a
battery compartment, a potentiometer for controlling volume, and
amplifier electronics molded as components within the body member
blank and the body member blank is milled on a milling machine to
conform the outer surface of the body member blank with the inner
ear space measurements to provide a comfortable fit when the body
member is inserted into the ear and without cutting into the
molded-in components, and in that a plurality of blanks of
different sizes and in which electronic components are positioned
interiorly in different spatial positions are produced for allowing
a selection of a suitable blank, including the steps of storing in
the electronic memory the positions of the components in each
respective blank, and selecting a body member blank for a
respective one of various shapes of ears of permitting cutting of
the member blank which incorporates the most favorable interior
spatial arrangement of the components to permit the removal of
plastic material from a blank to conform with the ear inner space
measurement without cutting into any of the components.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the cutting machine is a milling
machine.
5. The method of claim 1, including the step of selecting, before
the cutting step, one body member blank from a plurality of body
member blanks, wherein each body member blank includes interiorly
molded electronic components, the selection based upon the ear
inner space measurements and the positions of the electronic
components within the blanks.
6. The method of claim 1, in which the measurements of the inner
space of the ear are taken by means of image processing.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of producing hearing aids
to be worn in the ear and including a body member adapted to the
individual shape of the inner space of the ear, which body member
contains an electronic amplifier and a sound transducer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Hearing aids which are worn in the ear are customarily adapted and
shaped so that their outer dimensions conform individually to the
size of the ear canal of the respective user. Until now, that
result was achieved by making an impression of the space of the
inner ear in order to produce therewith a mold for instance of
gypsum, by means of which thereafter the plastic body member or ear
shell of a plastic material can be produced as exact fitting part
for a respective ear canal shape. Thereafter, the electronic
amplifier and the sound transducer are mounted into this ear shell,
and the spatial arrangement of these components must be selected to
be adjusted to the measurements of the inner space of the ear
canal.
This method of production has a variety of drawbacks because the
molding of the body member and the mounting of the components must
be made in a special laboratory, because the hearing aid specialist
skilled in the art of hearing aids usually does not possess the
necessary apparatus and the know how of molding techniques. Thus
the purchaser of a hearing aid cannot obtain the hearing aid
immediately from the hearing aid specialist, but rather after a
prolonged waiting time. Accordingly, this production method is slow
and expensive and incorporates further many possible sources of
error, such that the rate of rejections when trying on the finished
hearing aids is relatively high.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, a general object of the invention to provide a
method of manufacturing hearing aids which does not have the
drawbacks noted above and by means of which the hearing aid
specialist can produce on his own within a very short time and in a
extremely precise design a body member which fits precisely the
shape of the ear of a respective wearer of the hearing aid.
A further object is to provide a method of producing a hearing aid
including the steps of initially taking the measurements of the
inner space of the ear canal up to the eardrum for producing the
individual shape of the body element, resulting from storing the
data of the measurements in an electronic memory, and of
controlling a milling machine by means of the stored measurement
data so that the desired individual ear canal body member is milled
out of a body member blank of a plastic material having an
electronic amplifier and a sound transducer molded therewithin.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The invention will be better understood and objects other than
those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is
given to the following detailed description thereof. Such
description makes reference to the annexed drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 illustrates the principle of taking the measurements of the
inner space of the ear canal by means of a laser and of storing the
measurement data in a computer;
FIG. 2 illustrates a milling machine having a milling cutter
controlled by the computer; and
FIG. 3 illustrates a cylindrical blank for the body member or ear
shell of a hearing aid on an enlarged scale and prior to the
machining thereof by the milling cutter.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
According to FIG. 1 the measurements of the inner space 2 defining
the ear canal of an ear 3 taken by means of a laser apparatus 1, or
by image processing, up to the eardrum. The measurement data
received are stored in an electronic memory 4, which preferably is
a computer in which the data received are processed for their
further use.
A milling machine 5 illustrated in FIG. 2 is controlled by the
computer 4. A blank 6 of a plastic material is clamped on the table
of milling machine 5, which blank is illustrated in FIG. 3 on an
enlarged scale and which is machined by a milling cutter such that
it is given a shape which corresponds exactly to the inner space 2
of the ear. The amplifier electronics 7, the microphone 8, the
earphone 9, the battery compartment 10 and the potentiometer 11 for
the volume are molded in the cylindrical plastic blank 6. Quite
obviously, only the plastic material which surrounds these
components can be milled of. Because a variety of shapes of the
human ear exists, a selection of various blanks is produced, in
which then the arrangement of these components is also varied such
that at the time the blank with the most suitable arrangement of
the components can be selected for the milling operation in order
to obtain the respective body member. The location of these
components in each of these various blanks is stored in the
electronic memory for each blank such that the measurement computer
selects the correct blank based upon the data of the inner space of
the ear, which are also stored in the computer. In order to utilize
still more skilfully the space at the blank 6 for the milling
operation, the electronics 7, which comprise an amplifier as it is
presently usually utilized in hearing aids, can be divided if
necessary into smaller units which are interconnected by electrical
conductors.
While there is shown and described a present preferred embodiment
of the invention, it is to be distinctly understood that the
invention is not limited thereto, but may be otherwise variously
embodied and practiced within the scope of the following
claims.
* * * * *